Annual Engineers Week Introduces Young People to the World of Engineering

For nearly 70 years, the contributions of engineers and their impact on society have been highlighted each February during Engineers Week. This year’s event, which will take place from Feb. 17 to 23, will include a number of interesting and educational events including Family Day, the Future City Competition Finals, Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day and the Global Marathon.

Organized by DiscoverE, Engineers Week is co-chaired by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) and the DiscoverE Leadership Council, which includes Bechtel, Bentley Systems, ExxonMobil, Lockheed Martin, NCEES, the Northrop Grumman Foundation, Shell Oil, TE Connectivity and the safety organization UL.

Each year, more than 6,000 students, educators and parents take part in DiscoverE Family Day, which kicks off Engineers Week on Feb. 16 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. The festival, which has been held for the past 27 years, will feature dozens of exhibits presented by local and national engineering organizations — including the ASME Washington D.C. Section — that are intended to enable children under the age of 12 to experience first-hand the wonders and excitement of engineering. To learn more about Family Day, visit www.engineeringfamilyday.org.

The final round of another popular DiscoverE program, the Future City Competition, will also take place in Washington, D.C., during Engineers Week. Each year, the competition challenges middle-school students to research, design and build their concept of what a city of the future would look like. ASME President Said Jahanmir and ASME Past President Vickie Rockwell will serve as judges for the competition, which will take place at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. Jahanmir will also take part in the Future City Competition Finals ceremony and present a special ASME Best Futuristic City Award to one of the Future City teams on Feb. 19. For more information on the Future City Competition Finals, visit www.discovere.org/our-programs/future-city.

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (Girl Day), on Feb. 21, will offer a variety of activities intended to familiarize young women with the exciting world of engineering and the contributions engineers make to society. For more information on Girl Day, or to learn how to become a Girl Day role model, visit www.discovere.org/our-programs/girl-day.

Although not a part of the formal Engineers Week program in February, the Global Marathon continues the spirit of Engineers Week throughout the month of March and into April. The Global Marathon, which kicks off March 6, is a series of free, weekly online discussions offering practical career advice for women engineers. ASME member Lisa Drinnan, chair of the ASME Delaware Section and engineering project coordinator at KBR Inc., will appear as a panelist in a Global Marathon session on March 27 addressing work-life balance. To learn more about the Global Marathon, visit www.discovere.org/our-programs/global-marathon.

For more information on DiscoverE Engineers Week, visit www.discovere.org.